High chair



June 7, 1966 s. LINDEN HIGH CHAIR Filed June 11, 1964 lNVE/V 70/? 51444062 I. l/VDE/V United States Patent 3,254,917 HIGH CHAIR Samuel Linden, Swampscott, Mass, assignor to Bunny Bear, Iuc., Everett, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed June 11, 1964, Ser. No. 374,423 1 Claim. (Cl. 297-322) The present invention relates to a high chair and more particularly to a high chair having an adjustable seat and back.

Its an object of the present invention to provide an improved high chair construction which may be adapted for use by infants and children. The present invention provides a high chair designed for use by babies from their infancy when they are bottle fed to the time when they are large enough to sit at a family table. This invention combines an infants feeder and a standard high chair in a single construction.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an adjustable high chair having a seat and back, which is easily changed between a reclining position and an upright position. A further object of this invention is to provide an adjustable high chair which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, which is simple in design and construction, which is attractive in appearance, which is easy to maintain and clean, which is easy to disassemble for shipment and storage, and which is not likely to have mechanical or other functional failures.

The present invention also provides an improved construction for a reclining high chair in which both seat and back are adapted to move when the high chair is adjusted from one position to another with the movement of the back automatically controlling the movement of the seat. A further object of this invention is to provide a high chair construction in which the seat and back are supported in an improved manner on the frame.

In the present invention there is provided a reclining high chair having a back panel and seat hinged together at adjacent edges. A pair of inverted U-shaped members, formed preferably of a tubular metal material, have legs which form the legs of the high chair and have a bight portion integral with the legs that form the arm rest of the high chair. A plurality of support members are arranged on each side of .the seat with the lower portions of these support members engaging and preferably pivotally secured to the seat with the upper portions of the support members preferably pivotally secured to the bight portion of the U-shaped members. Means are provided for adjustably securing the back panel in one of a number of different positions relative to the seat.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention showing a table rest in dotted outline; I

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1 taken from one side thereof;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a rear portion of the high chair.

The high chair illustrated in the present invention is provided with a seat 1 and back rest or back panel 2. A pair of side wings 3 and 4 are positioned longitudinally of and normal to the back panel along its side edges. The seat, back panel and side wings may be conventionally formed with a rigid base panel, such as fiber board, with an adjacent cushion formed of a resilient material, such as a polyurethane foam rubber or other filling. The base panel and adjacent cushions are preferably covered with a finishing material such as a sheet of vinyl plastic or the like.

The side panels 3 and 4 may be mounted for removable interengagement with the back panel 2. This arrangement may comprise a U-shaped rigid member 5 having a bight 6 and legs 7 and 8. The legs 7 and 8 extend into the side wings 3 and 4 under the plastic cover from the rear edges, and are suitably secured to these side wings preferably holding them in rigid interengagement. The bight portion 6 of the U-shaped member 5 has a length sufiicient to span the back panel 2 with the side Wings 3 and 4 and the legs 7 and 8 resiliently interengaging the side edges of the back panel 2. Thus, these side wings 3 and 4 may be removably secured to the back panel 2 when the highchair is used for infants, and may be simply removed by outwardly tensioning the side panels 3 and 4 and sliding them upwardly off the back panel 2 when the high chair is used for an older child.

The back panel 2 is suitably hinged to the seat 1 by suitable means. These means may comprise a pair of brackets 10 and 11 along adjacent edges of the back panel and seat, with bracket 10 secured to the back panel and bracket 11 secured to the seat. Each of these brackets span the width of the member to which they are secured and are provided with angularly flared ends 12 and 13 suitably pivotally interengaged at ends 14.

The high chair is provided with a pair of inverted generally U-shaped members 20 and 21. Each of these members is provided with a pair of legs 22 and 23 that respectively form the legs'of the high chair. Each inverted U-shaped member also has a bight portion 25 that forms an arm rest for the high chair. In the .preferable form, the bight portions 25 are straight with their ends continuous with the legs 22 and 23 in bowed or bulging sections 28 and 29. The lower ends of the legs 22 and 23 in each inverted U-shaped member may be interconnected by a cross brace 30, suitably secured at its ends to the legs 22 and 23 by bolts 31 or other similar means. The opposite inverted U-shaped members may be rigidly interconnected by additional cross braces 32 and 33 with cross brace 32-extending between parallel legs 22 and cross brace 33 extending between parallel legs 23. These braces 32 and 33 may be suitably secured to the inverted U-shaped members as, for example, by bolts or screws 35. The inverted U-shaped members and various braces may be formed of any suitable material but are preferably formed of a tubular steel which may be flattened where desired to provide interengaging surfaces such as illustrated at the ends of the cross braces 30, 32 and 33.

In the preferred embodiment tubular supports 40 are suitably secured on the lower side of bights 25. These supports 40 are preferably formed of a tubular steel material and are bolted to the bights 25 by bolts 41 or are otherwise suitably secured thereto.

The seat 1 is supported in the frame formed by the inverted U-shaped members by suitable means. These may comprise a pair of U-shaped wire support rods 43 and 44. The upper ends of the legs of these U-shaped rods 43 and 44 are outwardly flared, and extend into openings in the tubular supports 40 to pivotally secure each of these rod supports 43 and 44 with the opposite ends of each secured in opposite tubular supports 40. The outwardly flared ends of rods 43 are secured at the forward end of the tubular support 40 while the ends of rod 44 are secured at the rear end of support 40. The bight portions 45 and 46 of these rods 43 and 44 extend beneath and across the seat 1, and are loosely interengaged to it by brackets 47 which permit rotation of the rods 43 and 44 relative to the seat 1. The seat 1 is thereby capable of being swung from one position to another on the rods 43 and 44.

The back panel 2 is supported for movement on the Patented June 7, 1966.

3 frame by a U-shaped wire support rod 50 having legs 51 and 52. The free ends of the legs 51 and 52 are outwardly flared and are pivotally engaged in holes in the tubular support at a position rearward of the point of pivotal engagement of rod 44. The bight portion 53 of rod is loosely secured to therear surface of back panel 2 by suitable means such as brackets 54. The back panel 2 may move from one position to another as the support 50 pivots about its outwardly flared ends.

The back panel 2 and seat 1 may be adjustably positioned from one position to another by suitable means. These means may comprise an expansible rigid link member 60. This rigid link member may have a tubular shaft 61 pivotally secured at its upper end to a bracket 62, in turn secured to the center portion of the rear face of back panel 2. A threaded shaft 63 threads longitudinally into the tubular shaft 61 and is adapted to be turned to make an effectively longer or shorter member by means of a handle 64 rigidly secured to the free end of the. threaded shaft 63. The threaded shaft 63 is secured intermediate its ends by a bracket 65 which in turn is suitably secured to the frame and preferably to the brace 32. The bracket 65 is mounted to secure the threaded shaft 63 in a vertical position so that members 61 and 63 will remain substantially vertical regardless of the effective length of these members. The bracket 65 locks the shaft 63 against longitudinal movement while permitting rotational movement. By rotating the handle 64, the effective length of members 61 and 63 may be changed which in turn causes the back panel 2 to move from one selected position to another between a substantially reclining position and a substantially vertical position. When the effective length of members 61 and 63 is shortened, the back panel 2 is pivoted about the support 50 with the lower end of the back panel 2 moving forwardly and the upper end moving rearwardly to form a substantially rearwardly inclined back rest. Simultaneously, the movement of the back panel 2 causes the seat 1 to move forwardly and slightly upwardly, with the forward end of the seat 1 moving upwardly a greater distance than the rearward edge of the seat 1. Conversely, when the length of the members 61 and 63 are effectively lengthened the back panel 2 moves from an inclined position to a substantially vertical position, and the seat 1 simultaneouslymoves rearwardly and towards a horizontal position,

The high chair may be provided with a table surface shown in dotted outline which table surface 70 may be secured by any suitable and conventional means to the arm rests. In addition, a foot rest 71 having supporting members 72 may be adjustably interengaged with the frame by suitable means.

If desired, the inverted U-shap-ed members 20 and 21 may be formed with the lower portions of the legs 22 and 23 in two sections, telescopically interengaged at 75. Suitable caps 76 may be placed at the lower ends of the legs 22 and 23.

What is claimed is:

A reclining high chair comprising,

a back panel and a seat hinged together at adjacent edges,

a frame comprising a pair of inverted U-shaped members with each having legs forming the legs of said high chair and a bight section forming an arm rest,

front and rear cross members extending between said U-shaped members,

'a plurality of support members each comprising a U- shapedrod with the bights of said rods pivotably secured to said seat and with the free ends thereof 1 pivotably supported on said arm rests,

a support member for said back panel comprising an additional U-shaped rod having a bight portion piv- .otably secured to said back panel and legs with free ends extending forwardly and pivotably supported on said arm rests at points substantially in linear alignment with points at which said first mentioned rods are pivotably supported on said arm rests,

an elongated expansible member having one end piv- 'otably secured to said back panel and the other end secured to said rear cross member of said frame to substantially hold said expansible member in a substantially vertical position,

said expansible member comprising an elongated means and a threaded shaft threaded longitudinally into said elongated means whereby said back panel may be pivoted between a stable reclining position and a stable vertical position and on said pivotable movement move said seat respectively between a stable reclining position and a stable horizontal position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 205,452 6/ 1878 Wekerle 297361 727,741 5/ 1903. Brott 297282 825,984 7/ 1906 Schrnersahl 297282 1,888,471 11/1932 Robbins 297321 2,207,216 7/ 1940 Eisen 297--384 2,517,278 8/1950 Benson 297282 2,666,478 l/ 1954 Shwayder 2975 8 2,984,291 5/ 1961 Kostenborder 297 3,132,897 5/1964 Linden 297322 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

F. K. ZUGEL, Assistant Examiner. 

